Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Your greenstuff dilemna is one I am familiar with. I also need to admit it and deal with it so I can move on.

Normally I work at home in the evenings, I try and put aside an hour a night to try and keep some momentum, however the real world often intrudes and you don't achieve your goals (falling asleep on the couch last night didn't help for example). So to make up for missing my painting time I have decided to do some painting at the office today, I have painted while travelling before and have built a small kit to help me do so. This is what I carry with me: -



At the back we have two boxes, where my sadly organised brain has dictated a colour coded scheme, green is a painting box & purple is sculpting. The box on the left has my missile launcher marine, broken down into components for easy access. While on the right we have the Sgt & left handed arms in for final Green Stuff work and if you look really carefully in the top right you can see my Gw paint pot.



In the middle we have a "Really Useful Box" with my paints and brushes, the brushes are W&N Series 7 Miniatures, sizes 0, 1 & 2. I also have 6 paints with me, Vallejo Black and White with Citadel Black, Boltgun, Mithril Silver & Dwarf Bronze, these represent. For this project these paints give me almost all I need to do the job.

Oh and as you can see the weathering on the Missile Launcher marine has been done on the body and backpack, I need to do the head, servo arm and missile launcher today.



In the left to the front we have my sculpting kit, this is new for me and I have put it together to overcome the recent "problem". There is a set of the smallest hardest clay shapers you can get, a Wax Carver #5, a dental probe and the green stuff tubes. This kit plus some saliva covers almost all I need to sculpt anything I require. Oh and my youngest daughter Amelia gave daddy a spare pencil case this morning to help carry his sculpting tools <bless>. I asked her for a purple one to match the colour coding but obviously her devotion and generosity only stretch so far



My modelling glasses, not because I need glasses but actually because they are +3.5 magnification. I went to our local pharmacy (Boots in the UK) and got some for about £20. They help me a lot with sculpting and even with painting intricate detail, for me a definate worthwhile addition.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ blambi : Only problem is if I do a random other figure I lose sight of my goal ...

@ inmygravenimage : So lets see a pic of the ServoArm !!

@ Flashman : Thanks ... always nice to see someone new come along for the ride

I like that you paint at work. I once took my stuff to school with me
but that wasn't so great. Most of the time I spent explaining what i
was doing.

Lol, yes I'd get all sorts of sarcastic comments if I started painting at work. It would get boring very quickly (the comments, not the painting)

I take stuff to work with me when I'm on 12 hour shifts.

I can get a lot done sometimes... sometimes its just too damned busy.

I have been totally uninspired to work on my models this week... Gotta get off my butt and get somthing done.

One small note to stop any confusion here ... I paint during my lunch hour at work .. not during the "Work" time

These are just too awesome. I wish I could make bases half as cool as your from scratch, but instead I bought some resin bases from Forgecraft Games.

All I can say is WoW! This really puts my less then mediocre attempts to shame....
Great job, I love the amount of detail you're putting into rank and file troops.

Out of interest, where do you work?

I am not sure admitting where I work would be a good thing

Lol, afraid your bosses will be cross at you painting, or that I am a mad stalker?

I am the boss

Brother Argos! Sorry to post off topic but have you done any work on the Steel Legion? I used a ton of techniques and inspiration from that thread to make my own WWII 101st Airborne IG. Would love to hear about any progress.

I got another couple of hours on the Missile Launcher figure last night ... so we have pretty pictures today.

He is still work in progress as I need to make the missile launcher white, paint the servo arm, paint the base and finally put the decals on. From the front and back: -



and from the sides: -



I noticed his rear foot had risen by the end of the photo's so he looks a little offset in the picture above, I haven't glued him to the base yet, but obviously will once the base is painted.

For some reason I am resisting painting the missile launcher tube white ... it someone feels more natural in black, however I think I need to do it to make him fit with the rest of the squad.

@ Maj. Winters : Sadly no .. the project is all safely stored away and can be resurrected whenever I get the urge. I think I bit off more than I could chew. I stopped wanting to modelling for almost 2 yrs after that ... because I "failed".

It did teach me a valuable lesson however, set small achievable goals. The make sure I finish them before moving on to other things.

I do like the black tube. How odd would it be to paint the front section of the tube white. The part up in between the metal.

Or the part that is metal now maybe? Needs to have the white to break it up, but the black looks good too.

I succumbed at lunch time and painted the barrel white, I was pleasantly suprised to find it actually worked well. It needs another thin coat or two tonight to get a nice smooth white, but I think I like it

Looks great! I'm always terrible at painting white, but you've been doing fantastically. I eagerly look forward to more.

Keep up the good work!

How have I not seen this thread before!? You have perhaps got the best collection of fantastically modeled and painted Iron Hands I have ever seen! The attention to detail is truly fantastic. You have made me look at my SM collection today and I can definitely say that I will be working feverishly to make them look as original as yours albeit with a BA scheme

Now, I must get me some plasticard..

Cain

BrotherArgos I love your tecnique with your Iron Hands! I am gonna have to steal you method for my Ravenwing!

I subbed great thread keep it coming!

Nice work, i like to paint on the go too, but i just use a pencil box since it can hold alot more than that.

@ Commander Cain : Go buy Plasitcard .. get lots and lots of different sizes and go WILD with it

@ GreyDeathOne : Go steal it .. BUT .. if you do something come back here and show me a picture

Its been a weekend for daughters and family, but I did work on the Missile Launcher some more

First off I was asked to show the Puppetwar heads on a marine body to show "fit" ... I think they fit pretty well to be honest .. what do you think?



Moving on to the Missile Launcher, I finished the base off in a night of effort and rusty walls. I tried lots of different techniques with the bullet holes but I think I finally nailed it. You should also notice the tread on the bottom of the space marine boot made from plasticard and the rear of the wall where the impact marks of the bullets on the other side show through.

Obviously there is still more to do ...

Servo Arm
Rust weathering on the marine
Decals on Shoulderpads, Purity Seals and Missile Launcher.
Tidy up

I will be doing most if not all of that tonight while I watch Star Wars II with my daughter Amelia (the 10yr old).



One thing I was thinking of for the next squad will be "making" the room they are in and ensuring all the flooring styles "fit better" rather than just being grouped by the "rusty floor" theme. I think it would also make for a wicked diorama with a squad of marines under fire in a space hulk.

Nice work on the missile launcher dude, lots of character to him.

Those look good. I was thinkign about picking up those for my Iron Warriors.

Your modelling and painting work is amazing. You have something special here. Sub'd.

Nice touch with the tread on the marines foot.

I thought I should mention that you have inspired me to finally paint my marines bases. All 59 of them!

BrotherArgos, they look incredible! I'll definitely be paying more attention to the way I base my marines now. The character and narritive that you've developed with a few well executed touches is inspiring.

tsd

He took a long while and quite a bit of fiddling, but finally the heavy weapons marine is complete ...



The rust effects took a while to work out, but in the end a small amount of downward stroke got the feeling I wanted into the rust on the wall, it bugged me for ages, but I had repeated a similar technique to how I had done the flooring and it just felt wrong. All it took was some simple soft brushwork to add a small feeling of downward movement (gravity), the change is hardly noticeable now it feels right.



It was from the right hand side of the figure I was most worried about balance ... there were a couple of times when the damned marine would just not sit right on the base but in the end it worked!

There is shading on the white tube ... but no amount of coaxing gets decent white shading out of my camera (always an excuse to upgrade), I tried Vallejo's pale wash and it worked nicely, it is specially built for pale colours/white. I just wish I could actually show you!



You might also notice I have "upped" my photo technique a little ... for ease of production I have setup a mini-studio next to me and have a wifi-card in my camera to send straight to my computer. This means I can leave it all setup and just pop a figure in for its shot! ... More on all this later though

He took way longer than I wanted and slowed me down a bit, but the result seems worth it to me ... I hope you like him?

Damn fine work!